a love like war
by oikawaa
Summary: after being engaged to a stranger for fourteen years, natsu has accepted he would never fall in love and marry the girl of his dreams. but maybe, just maybe, igneel was right all along— arranged marriage au, nalu, slight jerza.


**Summary:** after being engaged to a stranger for fourteen years, natsu has accepted he would never fall in love and marry the girl of his dreams. but maybe, just maybe, igneel was right all along— arranged marriage au, nalu.

 **Series:** fairy tail

 **Rating:** k

 **Genre:** drama/romance

 **Pairing:** natsu/lucy, slight erza/jellal

 **Note:** i don't own fairy tail, nor any of the characters.

* * *

 ** _chapter one:_** ** _preparation_**

* * *

 _"it's just a spark_

 _but it's enough to keep me going_

 _(so if i let go of control now, i can be strong)_

 _and when it's dark out, no one's around_

 _it keeps glowing."_

—

Natsu was sure he had been waiting at least half an hour outside, waiting for this damned car to arrive. Well. Probably not that long, but it _felt_ that long, he was sweating like a pig. Maybe he was a little bit nervous. Just a little bit, y'know. Not like he was meeting the woman he has been engaged to for fifteen years for the first time or anything.

"But dad," Natsu whined, attempting to loosen the tie around his neck. Not that he knew how to do one up, for that matter, let alone untie one. "I don't wanna get married to someone I've never met!" Honestly he had been complaining about the arranged marriage since he was thirteen, even though they had been 'engaged' since they were three. His parents hadn't even explained what marriage was until then.

The older man laughed and ruffled Natsu's pink hair, grinning at him. "Don't worry, boy. I made sure we found a girl you'll like. Besides, you're not going to marry her straight away, you're going to get to know her better first."

He sighed and dropped his hands to his sides, grumbling, "I wanted to find a girl on my own. There's no promise I'll even love Luigi—"

"It's Lady Lucy, Natsu."

" _Lucy_. How do you know I'll love Lucy?"

"You'll learn to love her. That's what happened to me and your mother," He bit his lip, stoping himself from saying that his mother had died long ago and that he wasn't even his real father, but decided against it. It didn't matter, Igneel had been a father to him for as long as he remembered, and that's all that mattered to him.

And that he had been arguing against this marriage for a long time without any result.

Taking his silence as a sign to continue, Igneel continued, "Lady Lucy is quite beautiful, Natsu. And she's adventurous, smart, elegant, and polite. I remember when she was a young girl, she was quite excited to marry someone who was her age and had pink hair."

Natsu sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets, lighting kicking at the gravel on the ground. He was excited when he was little, too, because Lucy was quite beautiful and that was the only thing he wanted in a wife. Heck, he even thought she was beautiful all throughout his life. From the last portrait he had seen, she had shoulder length blonde hair, which may or may not have changed since that was at least a year ago with the whole dyeing and cutting thing girls had. She had chocolate brown eyes and a bright, pearly white smile.

He honestly hadn't seen a girl as beautiful as her, well, sort of. He only had pictures of Lucy, rather than an actual memory of her presence. She was stunning. But, he had learnt over the years that having a wife didn't just mean she _had_ to be beautiful.

A future wife had to funny, trustworthy, kind, sweet, and sassy. He didn't just want a wife that would do whatever he wanted, she had to stand up for herself. Igneel had gone through wives that had been described as 'lacking a back bone', and he had gone through a lot of them. At least his current wife wasn't like that. She was still kind and sweet, but respected herself enough to say her word.

She had also brought him some company when he was younger, a girl seven years his junior, Wendy Marvell. She had brown eyes and dark blue hair that, judging by the differences between her and Grandeeney, she got from her father. Personality wise, she was Grandeeney all over.

"Natsu-sama?" The said man grunted and snapped out of thought, focusing on the young timid man who had spoken up. "The car is in sight."

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as he grumbled a thanks. In a couple days, he would meet his future wife for the first time and would get to know her, then he would organize the last details of his wedding.

In over a week, he would be married to young Lady Lucy, a girl he had never even met.

Who would have thought marriages for upper class citizens would end up like this. In a loveless marriage with obedient women and arrogant men. He really hoped Lucy wasn't like that, like Igneel had said.

"Here we go, boy, here's the car to your future." He looked up at his father who was smiling from ear to ear, and Natsu felt himself grin despite his troubled feelings.

For some reason, he always had a cooling effect on him, even though he was a hot head.

"That's so cheesy, old man."

He could hear the car now, he could see the dust trailing from behind. He let out a shaky breath and closed his eyes. Finally, after years and years of waiting, he was finally going to meet her. Instinctively, he bit her lip and swallowed hard.

"You're coming, too, right? I mean—" He paused for a moment and sighed, his eyes glued on the car fast approaching their driveway. Only a couple more moments left. "You'd want to meet your future daughter in law, so…"

He heard Igneel chuckle and felt him place a hand on his shoulder, his smile seemed more taunting than comforting. "I am staying here. You're eighteen soon, you need to start acting like an adult."

The car pulled up, and he was sure Igneel had started talking to him again, but he was focussed on the driver opening the car door and ushering Natsu inside. But his feet seemed to be glued on the ground, and the world went silent.

Up until the hand on his shoulder moved to slap him on the back, causing him to stumble forward until his hands clutched onto the roof of the car.

"Goodbye, Natsu. I don't expect you to be back until you have a Mrs. Dragneel with you." His father was still smiling at him. Natsu wouldn't say it out loud but he was going to miss him quite a lot. He was going to miss his toothy grin that showed off his sharp teeth, his red mess of locks that he called his hair, his tanned skin, and his enthusiastic attitude.

"Right. See ya, dad."

And then he was in the car, his stomach doing summersaults while he fidgeted with his tie again. He was still nervous, he could feel himself start to sweat, and wow his tie was way too tight.

Sometimes, just sometimes, he wondered what life would be like if he was a 'commoner'.

Easy and happy, he bet.

* * *

Sometimes he also wondered what life would be like if he didn't have the worst case of motion sickness ever.

"I feel sick," He gagged, hanging his head out of the car window, ready to puke. He was eyeing of the ditches and bumps on the road— making a mental note to make sure he complained to _someone_ about the poorly done roads— and felt bile shoot up his throat as the car went over a bump.

He hadn't eaten this morning, he was far too nervous to even keep anything down, not that he tried or anything.

The driver pitched in, his voice too sweet Natsu swore he could have given his teeth cavities. And of course he was also sure of the fact the he was enjoying seeing Natsu almost falling out the window whilst being sick. "There's still another two hours left until we arrive, Natsu-sama."

He felt like he could probably die in that time, although that could save him from possibly being married off.

"I just want to die already." Natsu groaned, and he heard the driver chuckle.

"That can be arranged, sir,"

Yep. Felt like it was going to be a long drive

* * *

He felt pressure on his shoulder, and then felt his body shake. He snapped his eyes open with a groan and was momentarily blinded by his own pink hair, then Natsu blinked back reality.

His eyes focussed on the man in front of his, he didn't know who he was, but he wore a tight smile that seemed forced more than anything. He had blond hair that was perfectly gelled back, along with a juts as perfect moustache. He had nice clothes, a brown suit that matched his eyes.

He spoke up, his voice polite. "You must be Natsu Dragneel, I presume?"

He could only nod. He had no idea what was going on, and he felt too confused to talk. Or too groggy.

"I'm Jude Heartfilia. It's nice to finally meet you. Lucy and Layla are waiting to meet you."

He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, his brows furrowed together.

Jude… Lucy… Layla?

Oh, Mavis.

He was at the Heartfilia state.

He was about to meet his future bride.

Crap.

—

 _"it's just a spark_

 _but it's enough to keep me going_

 _(so if I keep my eyes closed, with the blind hope)_

 _and when it's dark out, no one's around_

 _it keeps glowing."_

* * *

ah yes, i should be updating my other stories but this idea popped into my head and i just had to write it. but i swear i will update alteration and chopsticks as soon as possible, and i have holidays in two weeks so it won't be too much long of a wait.

but like always, review/follow/favorite!


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